learned to clamber up the rigging, cook for a shipful of people and even clean out the toilets.

But the most important things she learned were about life -- and other people.

Shane, 17, is the youngest cadet on board the sail training ship Astrid , and the only Bermudian.

Yesterday, the 75-year-old square-rigger arrived at Dockyard for a week's stop-off in the Island, and Shane was immediately torn between spending time with her family and joining the onshore fun with her new shipmates.

"The first thing I'm going to do is call my Mom and my best friend,'' she said. "I don't think my Mom knows I'm here.

"But I don't want to go home. I'm enjoying staying on board.'' Shane, a former Warwick Academy student from Ord Road, Paget, was sponsored by the Bank of Bermuda for the 11-week trip through the Caribbean and onwards to England, via Bermuda and the Azores.

"I had started at Bermuda College but I didn't like the course I was doing, so my parents suggested this to me.

"At first I really didn't want to do it -- it seemed really strange.

"But because I love the water I thought about it. It seemed a good time to get my head straight and decide what I wanted to do with my life.'' After an anxious wait, Shane heard she had been accepted.

She joined the ship in St. Lucia on February 28 and will leave it on May 15 in Weymouth, England.

"For me it's an experience of life,'' she said. "I'm learning how to sail a square-rigger and learning a lot about myself.

"I'm learning I'm not really afraid to try anything. Before I was really quiet, but here you're forced to make friends and get on with a lot of different personalities. It's teamwork.'' Climbing the rigging was not too much of a challenge. "The first time I looked up there I thought I could never get up, but once I was up there it was fine.'' Climbing the Piton mountains in St. Lucia, however, was a far more demanding experience.

And cleaning the "heads'' -- the ship's toilets -- has not been one of her favourite duties.

After time at sea, Shane is having trouble getting her land legs back. "I feel like I'm swaying,'' she said. "I've missed being able to look at my glass of juice without it slurping all over the place.'' The Astrid moves to Hamilton on Monday for a three-day visit which will see the launch of a trust fund designed to send four Bermudians a year on the ship's Atlantic crossings.